Loom having independent lay and weft inserting mechanisms



July 5, 1955 LOOM HAVING INDEPENDENT LAY AND WEFT INS Filed June 5, 1952 J. s. CHAYA 2,712,328

ERTING MECHANISMS 2 Sheets-Sheet l #17373 INVENTOR.

JOHN S. CHA YA Y B veidw A ORNEX J. s. CHAYA 2,712,328

ERTING MECHANISMS July 5, 1955 LOOM HAVING INDEPENDENT LAY AND WEFT INS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 5, 1952 Ill-ll United States Patent LOOM HAVING INDEPENDENT LAY AND WEFT INSERTlNG MECHANISMS John S. Chaya, Springfield, Pa., assignor to American Viscose Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application June 5, 1952, Serial No. 291,960 Claims. (Ci. 139-191) The present invention relates to looms in which the operations of beating-up the weft and the insertion of weft may be operated economically A textile fabric Various attempts have been made to accomplish beating-up the weft and the transfer of the shuttle by separate mechanisms so as to restrict the function of the 2,712,328 Patented July 5, 1955 2 ments effected by reciprocating portions of the independent lay assembly shown in the other figures; and

' and partly diagrammatic plan view Fig. 5 is a partial 0f the loom illustrated in Fig. 1.

In brief, a loom of the present invention comprises a An important feature bly 31 for beating-up the weft yarn within the shed 11 into The other slide member is a of the member 33. The assembly 31 of the loom herein described is equivaient to the lay of the conmay be designated, if

mirror replica a conventional machine engages the weft in accomplishing the beating-up thereof; in the present machine this is done by the comb. In Fig. 5 the comb 32 is shown in the position wherein, during operation, it is below the warp 11 and moving toward the raceway 12 The slide members are moved elongate in a direction substantially parallel to the lengthmember. The lower slot 35 rea ceives a slide block 37 supported rotatably on a stud or axle 38 which is secured fixedly on a frame portion 41 of the assembly 31. Another slide block 43 extends within the slot 36 and travels lengthwise thereof in response to the revolution of a crankpin 44 about which the slide block is pivotably mounted. The crankpin is attached to a lateral surface of a gear 45. A shaft 47 supports the gear 4-5 and a cam 48; the gear and the cam are secured to the shaft for rotation together. A rotatable cam follower 49 which may comprise, as shown, an ordinary roller bearing mounted on an axle 51 extending from,

and fixed to, a lateral surface of the member 33. The shaft 47 is supported within a bearing 52 anchored to, the frame of the assembly 31. The gear 45 is driven by an.- other gear 54 mounted on a shaft 55 which extends transversely within the loom and is journalled within the bearings supported by the opposite frame portions of the unit The shaft 55 is connected in drive relationship with any convenient rotary portion of the loom which will operate the lay assembly in synchronism with movements of the shuttle and the harnesses. As shown, a sprocket S6 is connected in drive relationship with a sprocket 57 mounted on a main cam shaft 58 of the loom by a sprocket chain 59. During operation of the loom the gear 4-5, when driven by the system just described, produces revolution of the crankpin 44. The latter acts upon the member 33 to reciprocate the member and the comb 32 in a direction extending lengthwise of the warp which constitutes the shed 11. As the slide block 43 has freedom i of movement lengthwise of the slot 36, the crankpin does not make any contribution to the vertical movement of the member 33. The vertical movement of this member is derived entirely from the rotation of the cam 43 mounted also on the shaft 47 for rotation with the gear 45.

The angular position of the cam 48 with respect to the crankpin 44 is fixed, so as to obtain a path of movement of the comb 32 indicated in Figure 4 by the endless ovate dotted line 61. The mechanism for traversing the comb 32, just described, occurs at one side of the assembly. A

similar mechanism is duplicated in mirror image at the opposite end of the lay unit 31 so as to duplicate at both ends of the lay unit with great precision the desired motion to be effected by the comb 32. The shape of the path 61 traversed by ends of the teeth of the comb as illustrated by dotted line in Fig. 4 conforms to a preferred manner of operation but is not critical. The shape may be modified by changing the shape of the cam 48 and its mate at the opposite end of the unit 31 to any desired peripheral contour, and by changing the magnitude of eccentricity of the crankpin 44 with respect to the shaft Fig. 4- illustrates diagrammatically the movements executed by various portions of the lay and lay-reciprocating assembly. Fig. 4, the comb has penetrated well into the warp shed and is moving into contact with a course 60 of weft yarn. Line 62 may be considered a longitudinal axis of the member 33 which extends through the axis of rotation of the cam follower, the axis of the cran'pin 44, and the axis of the stationary axle 38. Numeral 63 indicates some point on the axis of the member 33 below the slot 35. From this figure it will be seen that the slide bar 33 pivots as well as slides longitudinally relative to the axis of the axle 38 and the bar has no horizontal movement at this point. The crankpin travels in a circle but since the crankpin moves slidably along the axis 62, the slide bar is moved only in a generally horizontal direction by the crankpin. cam 48 and horizontal movement of the crank cause the axis of the cam-follower (and the axis of the slide bar 33 at that point) to traverse a path of movement indicated by the ovate dotted line 67. The path 61 traversed by the tip of the comb 32 is of the same general pattern but due to the relatively greater distance of the cam from the pivot At the instant of operation depicted in 5 iii) However, the combined lifting action of the at 38, the motion is extended in the horizontal direction when compared to the motion of the follower. The point 63 of the slide bar 33 travels a path indicated by the dotted line 68.

However, the path of the comb as herein described and illustrated conforms to that needed to obtain rapid operation of the loom without difficulties arising such as the cam-follower losing contact with the cam in effecting rapid insertion of the comb into, and withdrawal thereof from, the warp shed such as is necessary for efficient beate ing-up of the weft. The terms weft, Warp, and thread as used herein are not intended to limit the invention to any particular type of strands since all types of strands which may be woven on a loom are contemplated in the use of the present invention.

Although the beating-up mechanism herein described has been constructed as a unit or sub-assembly to be mounted within a loom, it may be installed in existing looms as well as in newly designed looms to eliminate the need for reciprocating the race-way of the shuttle in beating-up the weft to thus enable more rapid operation of the loom. The beating-up mechanism of the present invention may also constitute an integral portion of newly designed looms having stationary race-ways for shuttles. As shown in Fig. 1, the unit 31 comprises spaced frame portions such as member 41 connected by another frame portion extending therebetween. The frame of the unit 31 comprising these several portions is fixedly attached to the main frame 16 of the loom. As shown, the unit 31 is mounted upon inwardly extending flanges of the loom frame, such as flange 69.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. A loom comprising means for guiding a plurality of threads into substantial parallelism over a flat path to form a warp sheet of threads, means for successively opening the threads to form a shed extending widthwise of the sheet, a shuttle for inserting weft, a stationary raceway for guiding the shuttle along a path through the shed, an elongate comb having spaced teeth of a thickness adapting them to readily enter the threads constituting the shed, movable means for supporting the comb transversely with respect to path traversed by the sheet and exteriorly of the shed with the teeth extending toward the region within the shed, said movable means having guide surfaces extending in a direction away from the comb, at least one of the guide surfaces being spaced further away from the comb than another, pivotal means having an axis extending in spaced substantially parallel relationship with the shuttle path and the shed for slidably and rotatably engaging one of said guide surfaces, crank means in engagement with one of said guide sur faces spaced diiferently with respect to the comb than the guide surface in engagement with the pivotal means, said movable member comprising a cam follower, a cam for engaging said cam follower to move the comb into and out of the shed, and means connecting the crank means and the cam for synchronous rotation.

2. A loorn comprising means for guiding a plurality of threads into substantial parallelism over a flat path 1 to form a warp sheet, means for successively opening the threads to form a shed extending widthwise of the sheet, a shuttle a stationary race-way for guiding the shuttle along a path through the shed, an elongate comb having spaced teeth of a thickness adapting them to enter readily the yarns constituting the shed, movable means for supporting the comb transversely with respect to the path traversed by the sheet and exteriorly of the shed with the teeth extending toward the region within the shed, said movable means having guide surfaces extending in a direction away from the comb, at least one of the guide surfaces being spaced further from the comb than another, pivotal means having an axis extending in spaced substantially parallel relationship with the shuttle path and the shed for slidably and rotatably engaging one of said guide surfaces, crank means in engagement with one of said guide surfaces spaced differently witn 3. A loom comprising means for forming a continuous sheet of Warp threads, means for successively separating the threads of the sheet to form a shed extending the of weft thread, means connected in synchronism with the separating means for projecting the shuttle from one side of the sheet to the other through the shed after each separation of the threads, and means for beating-up the weft within the shed comprising a comb, means for supporting the comb with its lengthwise direction extending transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the sheet, the teeth of the comb extending toward the interior of the shed, said supporting means having camfollowing means fixedly associated therewith and having guide surfaces aligned in a direction extending away from the comb and the sheet, one of said surfaces being 4. A loom comprising means for forming a continuous sheet of Warp threads, means for guiding the warp threads and the fabric derived therefrom along a flat path through the loom, means for successively separating the threads of the sheet to form a shed extending the entire width of the sheet, a shuttle for carrying a supply of weft thread, a stationary race-way defining the path of the shuttle through the shed, means associated with the race-way shed comprising a comb, means for supporting the comb with its lengthwise direction extending transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the path, the teeth of the comb extending toward the interior of the shed, said supporting means having cam following means fixedly associated therewith and guide surfaces aligned in'a direction extending away from the comb and the sheet,

of the pivotal means and in spaced relationship therewith, one of the said guide surfaces that is spaced differently than the one engaged by the pivotal means being engaged by the crank means, and the cam means concloser to the comb than the other, pivotal means having an axis spaced from the path and extending in a direction parallel to the widthwise direction of the path,

said pivotal means engaging corresponding guide surfaces within the shed comprising a comb, means for supporting a comb with its lengthwise direction extending transout of the shed.

7. A loom comprising means for forming a continuous sheet of warp threads, means for guiding the warp and the fabric derived therefrom along a flat path through the loom, means for successively separating the threads on the sheet to form a shed extending the entire width of the sheet, a shuttle carrying a supply of weft thread, means connected in synchronism with the separating means for projecting the shuttle from one side of the sheet to the other through the shed after each separation of the threads, and apparatus adapted to be mounted as a unit within the loom for beatin -up the weft comprising a stationary frame, a comb, movable "eons for supporting the comb with its lengthwise direction extending transversely with respect to the lon udinal direction of the path, the teeth of the comb extending toward the interior of the shed, said supporting means having cam following means attached thereto and guide surfaces aligned in a direction extending away from the comb and the path, one of said surfaces being closer to the comb than another, pivotal means extending from the frame along an axis spaced from the path in a direction substantially parallel with the widthwise direction of the path, coaxial crank means and earn means having an axis of rotation in parallel and spaced relationship with respect to the axis of the pivotal means, the crank means and the cam means being connected for rotation together and being rotatably supported by the frame, the cam means being in substantially continuous engagement with the cam following means, the crank means being in substantially continuous engagement with one of the guide surfaces nearer the comb, and the pivotal means being in substantially continuous engagement with a guide surface farther from the comb than the one in engagement with the crank means.

8. Apparatus for beating-up a weft thread within the warp shed of a loom comprising a frame having spaced side portions, a drive shaft extending between, and being rotatably supported by the side portions, two drive assemblies separately and rotatably supported by said sideportions on a common axis of rotation, each assembly comprising a shaft and a earn, a cranlspin, and a gear supported on the shaft, gears mounted on the drive shaft in separate meshing relationship with the gears of said assemblies, the working surfaces of said cams being identical and connected with respect to said axis in identical angular relationship with the drive shaft, the cranlipins being disposed at equal distances from said axis and in parallel directions therefrom, pivotal means extending from the side portions along a single axis, a pair of elongate movable members, each member having a pair of slots, the slots of each pair being spaced lengthwise of the respective member with the lengthwise direction of each slot extending in substantial agreement with the lengthwise direction of the member, each slot of one member being parallel in lengthwise direction and disposed approximately equidistantly from said axis of rotation as one slot of the other member, each member having cam following means attached thereto and being supported by the adjacent assembly with the crankpin thereof extending into one slot, the pivotal means extending from the adiacent side portion of the frame into the other slot, and the cam in engagement with the cam follower, said apparatus comprising also a comb attached to, and supported between, the members.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein the axis of pivot means is further from the comb than the axis of the drive assemblies, and the pivotal means extends into the slot of each member which is farther away from the comb.

19. A loom comprising guide means for forming a plurality of continuous threads into a warp sheet and thereafter guiding the warp sheet and the fabric derived therefrom through the loom; a plurality of reciprocating iarnesses for separating the threads of the sheet to form a shed extending the substantially entire width of the sheet; a shuttle for carrying a supply of weft thread; a stationary race-way for the shuttle comprising a reed extent" 2; transversely through the region in which said shed is formed; means associated with the race-way and connected in synchronism with the harnesses for projecting the shuttle from one side of the sheet to the other through the shed after each separation of and means for beating-up the weft within the shed comprising a comb, a pair of members attached to and extending transversely from the comb in a direction extending away from the shed of the warp sheet, each member having at least a pair of guide surfaces, both surfaces extending lengthwise of its respective member with one of the surfaces being disposed generally closer to the comb than the other, said members having corn following means attached thereto, stationary pivotal means extending along a common axis into engagement with the guide surface of each member that is furthest from the come, cam means and crank means supported on a common axis p rallel to the axis of the pivotal means, said cam means continuously engaging the cam following means, the crank means being in continuous engagement with the guide surface of each member that is nearer the comb, said cam and crank means being connected in timed relationship with the shuttle-projecting means and the harnesses to move the comb into and out of the shed after each insertion of a weft thread therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS the thread; 

